For some live African beats to accompany your injera, Hidmo Eritrean Cuisine is the first place to go. Just one enlivening bus ride to the Central District will get you to Hidmo, located on 20th Avenue South and South Jackson Street, right next to the Wonder Bread factory.

It is definitely worth the trip to experience one of Seattle’s best venues for live African performances served up with tasty Eritrean cuisine. If you like East African or Ethiopian fare, Hidmo offers familiar flavors and hearty dishes of traditional Eritrean cuisine with a slight Middle Eastern flair.

For comfort food try the zegni — tender, falling-off-the-bone lamb ribs stewed in a spicy pepper sauce. Or for fervent vegans, the restaurant offers tasty vegetable combination dish with yellow lentils, cabbage, and okra served on a round tray of injera, a giant pancake of sour bread that is used to eat almost everything on the menu.

While customers enjoy delicious and inexpensive entrees (all under $10), live music fills the room Sunday nights. Hidmo features bands such as Sukutai, a percussion-based Zimbabwean group that plays traditional marimbas and drums in a life-size hut. When Sukutai played July 29, the stage was surrounded by an open indoor hut with a quaint replica hearth and even a few stuffed chickens for a rural effect.

If that wasn’t enough of a great view, the lead singer, Lora Chiorah-Dye, began to dance her way across the room right up to a nearby table. She then dramatically posed and started telling a Zimbabwean folk story; her charismatic performance illuminated the entire restaurant.

Mid way through their Sunday evening meals, diners can be seen rising from their tables and dancing with the band. The whole place gets going, and a few people can even be seen jumping into the performance to play drums with the musicians.

Saeed Abbas, a Ghanan percussion master and longtime drum teacher in the Seattle area, was in the restaurant July 29. He said that Hidmo is “a place to have fun and build community.” The room is filled with not only the usual East African patronage but also a whole swarm of music lovers and regulars to the African music scene.

“The dance and the music are extremely interconnected in Zimbabwean music; that is why I love the audience participation at Hidmo,” Chiorah-Dye explained later. She is a Seattle institution and an internationally acclaimed African singer, dancer and storyteller.

“Even after 30 years, I have not left Zimbabwe, because I have brought the music and the oral history to find a home in Seattle,” she said.

That sense of tradition, community and activism are exactly what the restaurant’s new owners, sisters Rahwa and Asmeret Habte, hope to retain from the previous ownership. They also envision an even more extended range of musical acts to suit a broader audience.

The all-ages Live African Music Series, promoted by the Kudzi Mudimu, has found renewed life at Hidmo Sunday nights. The series features live performances from a wide range of African styles from places such as Nigeria, Zambia, Ghana, Sierra Leon and Egypt. Mudimu and his organization, the Global Music Project, hope to promote knowledge of the social injustices within these countries though the international exposure of their music.

Hidmo hosts a stellar (for a homey Eritrean restaurant) underground hip-hop scene featuring DJ Daps on Filthy Fridays for a house-party environment and BoomBox Saturdays with the Bassholes. For a more laid-back, mellow atmosphere, check out DJ Duncan’s reggae hits Thursday nights.

Rahwa Habte, who was involved in social justice before her recent restaurant ownership, also hosts Ladies First performances sponsored by Communities against Rape and Abuse Saturdays at Hidmo. She hopes to raise awareness of these issues and empower female voices in the local music industry.

“My wish is for Hidmo to offer a true representation of African cultures, a diversity of performances, and act as a place for the community to unite,” Rahwa said. “You’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

For the music calendar or more information about Hidmo visit www.hidmo.com or take a trip to experience this unique Seattle venue.